Staar Surgical inks 44-hospital distribution deal in India

Staar Surgical (NSDQ:STAA) said yesterday it inked a distribution agreement with India-based EyeQ Vision Private to distribute Staar Evo Visian ICL intraocular lenses as a treatment for refractive vision treatment.

The deal includes supplying the lenses to 44 hospitals in north and west India, with plans to increase the number to 70 hospitals, including south and west India, within the next 2 years.

“With expansion plans to grow from our 44 hospitals in North and West India to over 70 hospitals including South and West India within the next two years, we made the decision to partner with STAAR Surgical to offer the EVO line of implantable collamer lenses as a premium solution for our patients with mid-to high myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. We also plan to broaden our surgical outreach to include Africa beginning with Nigeria. Our business plan is to offer more premium services as affordability increases in geographic regions. The opportunity to partner with Staar and Delhi Eye Zone to assure ready availability of lenses, co-marketing and promotion, surgeon education and clinical validation will help us to realize our growth and premium services goals,” EyeQ Vision founder & chief medical director Dr. Ajay Sharma said in prepared remarks.

The comapny’s Visian ICL intraocular lenses are designedto correct myopia and astigmatism by beingpermanently implanted between the iris and the eye’s natural lens in patients with refractive vision.

“We are pleased to be partnering with EyeQ Vision, a leading and growing refractive surgery provider in India, the 3rd largest market for refractive correction globally. We are very impressed with Dr. Sharma’s business model for providing visual freedom with our EVO lenses to patients in India and beyond. We look forward to partnering with Delhi Eye Zone, our distributor in India, to fulfill the local service requirements to assure patient education, patient interest meetings and next day surgery with lenses available in regional service centers. We now have committed strategic partners in major markets in China, India, Japan, Scandinavia, Southeastern Europe and the U.S. Our strategic priority to enter into these transformational partnerships in 2016 is exceeding expectations,” Staar Surgical prez & CEO Caren Mason said in a press release.

Last month, Staar Surgical offered updates on the FDA warning it received in February as it released its quarterly earnings. The company received the warning about its plant in Monrovia, Calif., where the company is headquartered.

The FDA inspected the Monrovia facility from Nov. 14 last year through Feb. 4, finding 10 problems with the way Staar documents product changes and other issues, the company said.

Staar executives updated on the situation, saying they had held products for further testing to meet quality standards and rejected and scrapped any products where deposits had been detected.

The company reported earnings that missed expectations but revenues that surpassed them, despite shrinking from the same quarter last year.

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